Seattle: Washington Park Botanical Gardens - Partial

 The Washington Park Botanical Gardens is a nice greenspace area in Seattle. It’s a huge 230 acre area that includes the Japanese Garden. After doing that we thought we would explore a little bit more of the area. I was hoping to head towards the Witch Hazel Family area, and I think we might have made it there, but nothing in particular jumped out at me. I wish we had discovered the area sooner, as it totally seemed like something worth exploring further. But, now I know it exists and will definitely have to come back.

Location: Multiple parking areas but we parked at 1075 Lake Washington Blvd E.
Time Needed: Not sure, we didn’t do a whole lot of it.
Cost: Free, with at least 1 optional fee area.

Stone Cottage. I got a better shot of that on the way out.

Forested road.

Ferns.

Little greenspace.

Pretty purple flowers next to a yucca plant?

More pretty forest.

Well, it appears we made it to the Camellia Family. Hrm. I guess I need to look into how best to explore this park. If we had done this at the beginning of the trip we probably would have pushed on to the visitor center. However at the end of our trip, with how much walking we have already done, we just did not have it in us. So, with a little meandering we called it. Again, we now know of it, so we might make our way back if we are in the area again.

We found a big tree.

I think I actually found come camellias. 

Ferns.

Another big tree.

These are pretty.

Funky branches.

We found a lovely wooded path that I was pretty sure would get us back.

Another funky tree.

Not sure if this is just younger autumn crocus or something else.

Bunny! Yay, we finally are seeing some wildlife other than squirrels and birds.

I have seen various bunnies back home, but never this close to the city.

Speaking of birds, this little cutey landed not too far from us. Pretty sure it is a song sparrow.

More forest.

Stewartia Monadelpha: Camellia relative. Japan and S. Korea (there was a sign).

More pretty forest.

Wow. That is awesome. We could do with putting these in areas around Utah.

Looking back I wish I had peered inside haha. I didn’t need to use it though so I didn’t.

A tree starting to change.

Neat tree.

Better view of the Stone Cottage I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

The sign on the stone says: University of Washington Arboretum.

Well, technically we are now out of the park, but it’s still pretty and green for a minute while we walk to our lunch destination just up the road.

Just about everywhere we go here I found me an orb weaver.

Oh I guess this is the end of the park.

Looking into the Arboretum.

Well that was a fun side adventure. I would like to explore it more sometime. Like I said if we had done this at the beginning of the trip, I probably would have at least pushed to the visitor center. But, oh well, it is something to come back and explore. I enjoyed getting a bit of wildlife in.